A Brief History Of Seeing Eye Dogs

As of now, it is not clear on who came up with the thought of having assistance animals as guides for the visually impaired.

It has been proposed that canines have had the chance to serve man is such a capability in the various diverse cultures. This has been for a long time now. However, it is well-known that there was never a formal program to train guide-dogs in place prior to world war one.

German shepherds- why they are the best

You might be wondering why Seeing Eye dogs and guide-dogs are usually the breeds of German shepherds. Well, there are actually many people wondering about that too. There are actually two precise reasons.

First, it is their strong loyalty that gives them the edge. They are usually very loyal to their owners and have a natural propensity to become very protective. This is clearly an asset, as having a dog that is protective helps someone ward off unscrupulous individuals. This makes the person less easily attacked.

The second reason is simple; the initial batch of guide-dogs to guide the visually impaired and blind had their training in Germany, after the First World War.

They were used by those who were blinded from fighting the war.
When the First World War came to an end, Germany became distraught by the financial depression. Private businesses collapsed, and Potsdam, the German school that used to train guide-dogs was no exception.

The start in America

It was a woman, American, by the name Dorothy Eustis, became aware of the program that trained the dogs and made the decision to pursue it, knowing it was going to be a valuable endeavor. Her company was for the training of German shepherds to be working dogs.

Then she decided to give the idea a chance. She wanted to start training them to become guide-dogs, but she didn’t start immediately. She was in consideration of all the possibilities, even when she wrote an article for The Saturday Evening Post on the advantages of having guide-dogs used by people who were visually impaired.

A man from Nashville called Morris Frank got a hold of the story, then decided to pen Ms. Eustis to request her to help train his dog. Ms. Eustis agreed. Mr. Frank then became the first known blind person in America who had a dog as a guide.

Keeping his part of the arrangement that he had made, he started to train guide-dogs. He did this in the US. Mr. Frank Morris started a foundation, called “The Seeing Eye”. Since then, the Seeing Eye dog foundation was born.

Currently, guide-dogs have their training to help people, who may have many diverse disabilities. We have Hearing Ear dogs for the hearing impaired, and those dogs that are helpers to the disabled (physically). However, anyone who benefits from using a guide-dog ought to be grateful to Mr. Frank Morris from Nashville, Tennessee.